FILE PHOTO

No hill of beans: fababean acreage soars, soybeans may be next

Faba bean acreage has increased tenfold in two years and could 
double again next year, with soybeans following suit

Reading Time: 3 minutes Every farmer knows a four-year crop rotation is best for good crops, healthy fields and managing pests. However, the four-year ideal often clashes with production reality: canola has been the big money-maker, and while legumes are good for nitrogen fixing, they usually pay less and can present big challenges with disease, standability and harvestability compared […] Read more


Red lentils. (Pulse Canada photo)

Lentil crop quality a concern

CNS Canada — Top-end Canadian lentils may be hard to find this year, as wet weather and the late harvest are expected to lead to quality downgrades. The lentil harvest in Saskatchewan, where the bulk of Canada’s crop is grown, is only about 23 per cent complete, according to the latest weekly report from Saskatchewan […] Read more

Manitoba beans progressing well, late harvest seen

CNS Canada — Manitoba edible bean crops have been progressing well over the past few weeks — but not enough, it seems, to push harvest back up to normal time slots. “The harvest is going to be a little later than normal,” said Francois Labelle, interim executive director for the Manitoba Pulse Growers Association. “It […] Read more





Diana Nguyen (l to r), Stacey Seufert, Christie Cheng and Anastassia Astrakhantseva developed Pulse Pops.  Photo: Courtesy University of Alberta

Pulse Pops grab national honours

Reading Time: < 1 minute It’s mission accomplished for the Alberta creators of Pulse Pops, who recently won top honours — and a cheque for $2,500 — at the national finals of Mission ImPULSEible. University of Alberta students Anastassia Astrakhantseva, Christie Cheng, Diana Nguyen and Stacey Seufert created a frozen alternative to the popular cake pop from black beans, chickpeas, […] Read more

They key is to seed early so that beans mature before the lygus bugs can cause damage.

Watch for lygus bug damage on fababeans

The insects leave a black spot which is discounted by export customers

Reading Time: 2 minutes Central Alberta farmers planning to sell low-tannin faba beans for export will need to beware of lower tolerance levels for lygus bug damage. Snowbird is a low-tannin variety of faba beans commonly sold into the human market overseas. Parkland Alberta Commodities, a grain buyer based in Innisfail, Alberta, set the tolerance level for lygus bug-damaged […] Read more